1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a fan module, and more particularly to a fan module with an adjustable air inlet.
2. Related Art
As the function of electronic products keeps enhancing, the thermal power of electronic components keeps enhancing accordingly. The computing speed of electronic products will reduce or even causes malfunctions if the heat of electronic components cannot be dissipated effectively. Therefore, heat dissipation is becoming more emphasized by people. Furthermore, heat dissipation is especially important for compact electronic products, such as laptops, hand-held computers and communication devices, etc.
Take the heat dissipation for a laptop as an example; a heat dissipation module is usually employed in the industry for dissipating the heat of various electronic components directly. Conventionally, the heat dissipation module in a laptop comprises a fan module, a heat pipe and a fin assembly. An end of the heat pipe is in thermal contact with the electronic components, and another end of the heat pipe is in thermal contact with the fin assembly. The heat produced by the electronic components is transferred by the heat pipe to the fin assembly of the heat dissipation module. Then, the operation of the fan module draws the hot air inside the electronic components and produces an air current to exchange heat with the fin assembly. Afterwards, the heat energy is discharged outside the electronic product. Thereby, the heat dissipation for the heating electronic components is achieved.
Generally, the fan module used inside a laptop is a centrifugal fan module for being disposed inside the laptop. The fan module mainly comprises a fan, an upper cover, a side cover and a lower cover. The fan is disposed between the upper cover and lower cover. The upper cover and the lower cover face an upper case and a lower case of the laptop respectively. The upper cover has an air inlet as well as the side cover between the upper cover and the lower cover has an air outlet. When the fan operates and produces an air current, the fan draws the hot air inside the laptop from the air inlet of the upper cover into the fan module. Then, the air current inside the fan is discharged from the air outlet. Thereby, the above mentioned operation can eliminate the hot air and the heat produced by the electronic components inside the laptop.
However, electronic products nowadays are designed to feature the characteristics of being compact, slim and light. In order to achieve the objectives of being compact, slim and light, a distance between the upper case and the lower case of a laptop has to be reduced. Therefore, the upper case and the lower case inside the laptop are respectively disposed proximate to the upper cover and the lower cover of the fan module. The upper case and the lower case will block an air current passage to the air inlet. When the air current passage is blocked, the amount of air current entering into the fan module is reduced substantially and the heat dissipation efficiency of the fan module is also reduced. When the heat dissipation efficiency of the fan module is reduced, the heat produced by the electronic components inside the laptop cannot be discharged effectively. This increases the temperatures of the electronic components and possibly reduces the computing speed of the laptop or even causes malfunction. Furthermore, fan modules with different designs are required for fitting different laptops when a distance between the upper case and the lower case of a laptop is different. This manufacturing mode for fitting different laptop models will increase the manufacturing cost of fan module substantially.